© Todd Kravos


Does the new Google Voice app compete with AT&T? AT&T seems to think so, and they want the rules that apply to them to also apply to Google. And it's written the Federal Communications Commission about it.

The FCC is looking in to it.

Lots of people are talking about the story: Mashable
VentureBeat, TechCrunch (here and here), the Huffington Post.

The short version is this... Google Voice is blocking calls to some rural locations. Phone companies aren't allowed to do that (something AT&T has learned first hand). Google says it's not a phone company. Google says the Google Voice application isn't even a public feature yet, since it's by invitation only.

I asked for an inivtation to Google Voice. I had one in a day or two and quickly found out that every number that was available to me in my rural area of Appalachia was long distance - and, thus, useless.

The FCC has asked some specific questions. Google has tried to make this a Net Neutrality issue (which most commentators see as a stretch). It will be interesting to see where the FCC goes with this.